I really enjoyed reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. It takes place during the Great Depression. What's fascinating about this book is that it's sort of like two stories in one book. One part of the book focuses on one family, the Joads, through their struggle to move out to California in order to survive. The other follows the entire group of people who were affected by the Great Depression and decided to move west. The two stories supplement each other and I think it worked very well. The general story gave me information about the Great Depression that i didn't know before and the story of the Joads was an actual story. It's a fictional book, but the characters are very realistic. None of them are perfect, which I guess is what makes them so believable. I really liked the mother; she had a 'quiet strength' about her which I found awesome. This book is about people: who they are, how they struggle through difficult times with pride, how they relate to their family... arrghh. I'm so bad at putting my thoughts into words. To use the little summary on the back cover, this book is about 'the human spirit.' gOsh. Why couldn't I have thought of that. :P
edit ->
wOOps. Sorry to make this stupid post even longer, but I forgot a book. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a really good book. This is more about the social class.... segregation? I can't really think of the word I'm looking for. It's a pretty easy read; it seems to be geared toward the jr. high school level. The characters drew me in; I admit I have stereotypes about 'inner city' type of kids, the gangbangers, etc. This book kind of gave me a sense that people can't be classified into just one group. Well, I didn't realize it the first time I read it. I picked it up again a few weeks ago. I cried the first time I read it and I cried again when I read it a while blech.
__________________
~*~ intoxicated tigress ~*~
come join the fun -> and ->
Last edited by hoyoungz luv on 06-07-2002 at 08:29 AM
|